November 25, 2025 11:55 AM UTC

It's Hurd vs. Evans With Your Health Care In The Balance

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Colorado Public Radio’s Caitlyn Kim reports, fresh GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd is working to pass his bipartisan legislation that would extend the health insurance premium subsidies he previously voted to cut off at the end of the year, after refusing to sign on to a discharge petition that would force a vote on doing so–potentially endangering the whole effort, since GOP House leadership has not agreed to a vote on the issue like the Senate did as part of the deal to reopen the government:

The Bipartisan Healthcare Optimization Protection Extension (HOPE) Act extends the enhanced premium tax credit for two years. It includes a lower income cap for enrollees, about $200,000 for a family of four, and phases out for those making above that (currently the subsidy is capped based on what percent of a family’s income it spends on health care). The bill would also try to crack down on fraud…

Hurd said he would not support a discharge petition to get the bill to the floor. If it gets enough signatures, a discharge petition allows lawmakers to bypass leadership and bring a bill that has a majority of support in the full chamber to a vote.

The unusual procedure recently succeeded in forcing a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

“I think regular order is the right way to do this,” said Hurd. “We’re giving Congress and our colleagues in the Senate a serious, incredible proposal. I think it’s really good and I think it reflects a consensus that is sound public policy.”

No doubt Hurd’s career lawmaker colleagues appreciate the freshman’s commitment to “regular order,” but there is a problem: lots of Republicans who aren’t on board with extending the subsidies at all, either by political obstinance or deafness to the pleas of constituents or both.

And that includes…you guessed it, fellow Colorado freshman Rep. Gabe Evans:

GOP Rep. Gabe Evans said people in his district are worried about the affordability of healthcare, but is concerned the income cap is too generous.

“I’ve talked to folks that have said, ‘why should I, as somebody that’s making $50, $60, $70,000 a year, have to subsidize somebody who’s making $200,000 a year, $300,000 a year?” he said.

Here we have Evans recycling the same misinformation he used to disparage the premium tax credits during the recent government shutdown, which in addition to being inaccurate only applies to a tiny percentage of those who face massive premium hikes with the expiration of the credits at the end of the year. The thousands of people in CO-08 now facing the choice of unaffordable premium increases or going uninsured are not six-figure income earners.

But they are voters, and that makes Evans’ continuing heartless dismissal of their situation politically inexplicable. It’s another example of Evans conducting himself as if he represents a safe Republican seat instead of one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country. Even outgoing far-something Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene recognized that the loss of these premium credits would be devastating to her constituents.

But not Gabe Evans. Whoever he thinks he answers to…are not the voters of his district.